Nine Decades of Service

QUIET SPOT The Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception gather with city officials and Chancery staff of the Paterson Diocese at the site of a contemplative bench and newly-planted trees in Eastside Park, Paterson. Among those pictured are Bishop Serratelli (third from right); Sister of Christian Charity Joan Daniel Healy (far right), diocesan chancellor and delegate for religious; and Father Kevin Corcoran (sixth from right), the Bishop’s priest-secretary.

Donation of bench, trees to Paterson marks sisters’ nine decades of service

By
MICHAEL WOJCIK, News Editor

PATERSON A soft breeze blew into the center of Eastside Park here on a recent summer day and through three new flowering cherry trees at the rear and sides of an equally new dark-green aluminum bench. Three years ago, the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God left their ministries in Paterson, but today, the bench and trees, dedicated on June 19, have symbolically re-established their presence in the city that they love. They also ensure that the sisters’ 92-year legacy of ministering to its poor and forgotten people will always be remembered.

On a grassy patch of land near East Park Drive, members of the City of Paterson Historic Preservation Commission joined several of the Missionary Sisters — also known by the acronym SMIC — to help dedicate the contemplative bench and the trees, during a ceremony in Eastside Park. Most of the sisters who attended the dedication had served Paterson’s poor in a variety of ministries — among them in education, social justice, health care, pastoral work, faith formation and evangelization — in parishes, schools, hospitals, social-service agencies and neighborhoods throughout Paterson. The sisters decided to donate the contemplative spot to commemorate their love for and service to the people of Silk City, which began in 1922, and the love given to them in return.

“We are grateful to be here today. This ground is holy ground. Our hearts are still here, even though we’ve moved,” said Sister Saundra McKeta, a member of the leadership team of the Province of the Immaculate Conception, which included all the SMIC sisters throughout the U.S. Several members of the local religious community moved from its residences in Paterson and Parsippany to more “senior friendly” housing in Denville. “This bench will give people respite. The trees will help ease the effects of climate change. They commemorate what it has meant for us to minister to the people from so many cultures in Paterson. We thank you for the privilege of letting us serve and be a presence here,” she said.

That afternoon, an assortment of officials from the City of Paterson, Chancery staff of the Paterson Diocese and Missionary Sisters gathered for the dedication, which was led by Gianfranco Archimede, the Historic Preservation Commission’s executive director. He delivered remarks and presented the sisters with a plaque in appreciation for their many decades of service. Other speakers were: Paterson Mayor Jane Williams Warren, Mayor-Elect Andre Sayegh, Sister Saundra and Joanne Wiley, a commissioner of the Historic Preservation Commission. Also on hand were Bishop Serratelli; Sister of Christian Charity Joan Daniel Healy, diocesan chancellor and delegate for religious; and Father Kevin Corcoran, diocesan vice chancellor and the Bishop’s priest-secretary. The ceremony was followed by a reception at Wiley’s home nearby.

“The Bible states, ‘Where there is no vision, the people will perish.’ But you sisters have tapped into a vision to improve the future of our city — a true collaboration to help us move the city where we want it to be,” said Sayegh, a Catholic who attended St. Brendan School in Clifton, DePaul Catholic High School in Wayne and Seton Hall University in South Orange.

At he end of the ceremony, several sisters took turns blessing the bench and trees with holy water. A small bronze plaque on the bench bears the inscription “Praise to God for all people” and the name of the SMIC sisters. The sisters also have served in other locations in the Diocese and beyond. In 2015, several members of the order — most of them infirm — moved to the former Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother convent in Denville, while a few others reside in the St. Francis Residence, also in Denville.

The contemplative spot in Eastside Park pays tribute to the local community of Missionary Sisters — an international congregation serving in seven countries — which was founded in Brazil in 1910 by Bishop Amadeus Bahlmann and Mother Immaculata Tombrock, both Franciscans and natives of Germany, to educate poor children throughout the world. In 1922, Mother Immaculata sailed to the U.S. and, on her travels established the Convent of the Immaculate Conception in Paterson. Then, the sisters founded St. Joseph’s Guest House for Women, which “developed into a many-faceted place, where the stranger was welcomed, the hungry were fed and the spiritual seeker was given the Bread of Hope,” according to the Missionary Sisters’ history.

From 1932 to 1960, the SMIC sisters operated the Generalate, their international administration, on Rifle Camp Road on Garret Mountain, West Paterson. Today, it is located in Woodland Park behind Berkeley College, formerly the sisters’ Tombrock College. Opened in 1959 and closed in 1976, Tombrock College offered associate’s degrees, the history states.

In Paterson, the sisters engaged in the formation of their community members. From the 1940s to the 1960s, they also undertook teaching religious education and other subjects in many parishes and schools in the city, including the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, as well as other Catholic schools, such as DePaul, and the College of St. Elizabeth, Convent Station. They also engaged in pastoral ministry at various diocesan parishes and the Chancery. They have offered retreats and helped organize a radio Mass on Sundays from 1969 to 1993, according to the SMIC sisters’ history.

They also undertook a variety of social outreaches with diocesan Catholic Charities, including Straight & Narrow, the substance-abuse treatment program; St. Martin DePorres Learning Center and Catholic Family & Community Services, also in Paterson. They have served Eva’s Village in its outreach to the poor and homeless, also in Paterson, which was named after its first director, SMIC Sister Eva Hernandez. The sisters also have been involved in an educational program at Our Lady of Victories Parish, Paterson, as well as prison ministry; the Inter-City Community for Action; hospitality; nursing at locations including St. Joseph’s Medical Center; services to the elderly; and recently at the Passaic Neighborhood Center.

“We discovered that we have few photos of our ministries in Paterson, because it has really been a ministry of presence,” Sister Saundra told The Beacon. At the ceremony, she spoke on behalf of Sister Joanna Riggs, provincial coordinator. “As a missionary community, we have been present to the people, being with them and collaborating with them to meet needs as they arose,” Sister Saundra said.

Sister Saundra joined the SMICs in 1962. She was missioned in California for many years; served as assistant provincial and provincial coordinator from 1985 to 1997 and ministered as a nurse on St. Joseph’s psychiatric clinical unit, where she was “part of a team that made a difference in the lives of vulnerable people;” and taught nursing at Passaic County Community College, Paterson, and Felician College, Lodi. She called Paterson “home” with “its diversity and ethnicities, which connected with me as a person and us as missionary sisters.”

After the dedication, Sister Eleanor Goekler told The Beacon that she also entered the community in 1962. She missioned in Texas and served in Paterson from 1996 to 2015 in leadership for the community and provincial levels and had worked in religious formation at Ss. Cyril & Methodius Parish, Clifton.

“This is like coming home for me,” said Sister Eleanor, who noted that today, the sisters minister to local parishes, at Passaic Women’s Center, and at Assumption College for Sisters, Denville, operated by the Sisters of Christian Charity. “We couple the needs of the people with the talents, skills and interests of the sisters. Collaboration is basic to our call as missionaries,” she said.